Those who have seen the movie “The Martian” certainly remember the astronaut who turned into a potato farmer on Mars, played by Matt Damon. Well, a team of astronauts demonstrated that such an achievement is possible, thus growing the first flower in space.

According to NASA, a Zinnia was planted and grown by the astronauts on the International Space Station, thus becoming the first flower that reached maturity in space.

This is however not the first time the astronauts on the ISS have tried to grow such plants. The first attempts to grow a zinnia were marked as a failure due to moisture inside the Space Station. The plants grown partially then quickly died because of the mold that suffocated them.

Is hard for a plant to grow in an environment where there are no continuous flows of fresh air or a suitable amount of water. Even so, the astronauts were able to grow the first plant in space this fall.

The reason they have decided to grow a zinnia flower is because the period during which a zinnia blossom is similar to that of tomatoes. This success proves that people can grow other vegetables besides lettuce into space as well.

It seems that Mark Whatney was right and that someday, we will be able to “green” other planets in our solar system apart from Earth.